The present invention relates to an automatic film unloading apparatus for automatically unloading an undeveloped film from its film cartridge and feeding it to a location where it is joined to a film leader for further photographic development processing, and to an intermediate film takeup cartridge for temporarily storing an undeveloped film unloaded from its film cartridge before being subjecting to development.
A film cartridge loaded with undeveloped film of 110, 120, or 126 type is not accepted for direct installation in a photographic film developer machine for development. It is thus a common operation in a dark room or pouch that each undeveloped film is unloaded from its cartridge and rewound into another cartridge (or a specific patrone) so that its trailing end is joined with a film leader.
In an automatic film developer apparatus for development of photographic films of a newly introduced APS type, an undeveloped APS film is unloaded from its cartridge and rewound into an intermediate cartridge for temporary storage. Then, the undeveloped film is automatically fed out from the intermediate cartridge and subjected to the development process in the automatic film developer apparatus.
In the former operation, any undeveloped film of a traditional size has to be manually rewound into the cartridge in a dark room or pouch and it often may be set upside down. Also, such manual rewinding will take a considerable amount of time.
In the latter operation, the intermediate cartridge for the undeveloped APS films consists of a single shell which is not separated into two and is fixedly mounted at a given location in an automatic film developer apparatus. If the entire length of an undeveloped film is taken up in the intermediate cartridge, the film cannot be pulled back. When the undeveloped film is jammed in the intermediate cartridge, it must be withdrawn manually in a dark room or pouch. This may result in accidental exposure of the undeveloped film to light or damaging the undeveloped film.
The present invention has been invented in view of the above circumstances and its object is to provide an automatic film unloading apparatus capable of automatically unloading and rewinding an undeveloped film from and to its cartridge within a shorter period of time but without rewinding in a wrong orientation, and registering its trailing end to a location where it is joined with a film leader. It is another object of the present invention to provide an intermediate film takeup cartridge for use in an automatic film developer apparatus which allows an undeveloped film to be rewound on a film takeup roller thereof to a not excessive degree and if jammed, to be withdrawn without physical injury.